"On Aug. 1, the department received an advisory of that same vehicle's possible connection to a crime known as "gift card draining." In this operation, scammers record or alter the activation information for legitimate gift cards, then re-seal them. When someone buys one of the tampered gift cards, the scammers access the funds when it is activated, draining the card of its value. The account number or PINs are also often damaged."
"After receiving the tip, real time crime center analysts tracked the vehicle as it stopped at CVS stores in Rohnert Park, Petaluma, Sebastopol and Santa Rosa, including the location at 2700 Yulupa Avenue. An undercover sergeant followed one of the passengers, later identified as 29-year-old Yongsheng Zhao, into the Santa Rosa store and saw him manipulating gift cards while hiding another large stack of cards in his possession, Seffens said."
"An officer, working in communication with detectives, pulled over the vehicle near Bennett Valley Road and Warm Springs Road in Glen Ellen. Zhao, of El Monte, and Zhipeng Li, 33, of Monterey Park, were detained. Police searched the vehicle and found 10,000 gift cards bundled and identified by store location, about $7,000 cash, and ledgers documenting an operation involving more than 200 CVS stores. The gift cards were for stores such as The Home Depot, Macy's and Bath & Body Works."
Two men were arrested and more than 25,000 compromised gift cards were seized in connection with a large-scale gift card fraud operation. Automated license plate readers and an advisory alerted investigators, who tracked the suspects to multiple CVS locations in Sonoma County. Scammers recorded or altered activation information on legitimate cards, resealed them, and accessed funds when cards were activated. An undercover sergeant observed manipulation of cards in a Santa Rosa store. Officers recovered 10,000 bundled cards, about $7,000 in cash, ledgers documenting activity across over 200 CVS stores, and 15,000 additional cards in a Hayward hotel room.
Read at The Mercury News
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